The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit which is slidably provided.
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral, there is known a construction in which an image forming unit including a photosensitive drum or a development device or the like is slidably provided relative to an apparatus main body and a driving source to drive the image forming unit is provided at the apparatus main body. Such a construction requires a coupling mechanism to transmit a driving force of the driving source to the image forming unit that is attached to the apparatus main body.
As the coupling mechanism to transmit the driving force, there is known a coaxial driving force transmission manner in which a driving force input shaft of the image forming unit and a driving shaft of the driving source are coaxially coupled to each other via a joint member. In such a coaxial driving force transmission manner, the coupling mechanism is configured to be switchable by a driving lever into a transmission state in which the joint member is advanced in an axial direction so as to be coupled to the image forming unit and a transmission release state in which the joint member is retracted in the axial direction so as to be separated away from the image forming unit.
The driving lever is supported at the apparatus main body so as to be slidable between a transmission position at which the coupling mechanism is switched into the transmission state and a transmission release position at which the coupling mechanism is switched into the transmission release state. In a case where the driving lever is thus slidably supported at the apparatus main body, there may be a case in which the driving lever slides unintentionally while the image forming unit is pulled out from the apparatus main body. If the driving lever slides to switch the coupling mechanism into the transmission state while the image forming unit is pulled out from the apparatus main body, there may be a case in which since the joint member is advanced, the image forming unit cannot be attached to the apparatus main body or the joint member interferes with the image forming unit and is damaged.